Legislative Council: Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Contents

Automotive Workers in Transition Program

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (15:01): Thank you, Mr President; thank you for noticing once again. My question is directed to the Minister for Automotive Transformation. Will the government be tracking the employment outcomes of each individual worker who participates in the Automotive Workers in Transition Program?

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN: I will say it again for the minister: will the government be tracking the employment outcomes of each individual worker who participates in the Automotive Workers in Transition Program?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his, again, very important question. He continues his very strong audition for a frontbench spot. You can see the Hon. David Ridgway nervously shifting around. I would be nervous too, because many of the questions asked by the honourable member are very difficult and insightful; very well researched.

The Automotive Workers in Transition Program is a very important program that seeks to help automotive workers transition from the automotive industry, both workers who work directly for Holden but also the many more workers who work in tier 1 and tier 2 supply chain companies. There is access to things like skills recognition, career advice, training and other sorts of help and counselling.

In terms of the metrics used by the program and those service providers, I think Northern Futures is one of the service providers the government uses, but I will check that for the honourable member. In terms of the metrics that are used to follow the individual workers, I will be very happy to bring back an answer as soon as I possibly can for the honourable member in an attempt to try to head off any further challenging questions.